ALBANY COUNTY — Reports this week show that the pandemic “has had a profound impact across the religious spectrum” and that employment levels at nursing homes have dropped by 14 percent — a loss of 221,000 jobs nationwide.

On Wednesday, Governor Kathy Hochul announced that the Biden-Harris Administration’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, known as CMS, will be making $750 million in additional American Rescue Plan funding available for New York’s Essential Plan.

On Thursday, Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy reported 126 new cases of COVID-19 and three more deaths.

A man in his sixties, a man in his eighties, and a man in his nineties all succumbed to the virus, bringing the county’s COVID-19 death toll to 433.

McCoy said flu had hit the area and urged residents to get vaccinated against both flu and COOVID-19.

“It is another sad day as I announce three more Albany County residents have died from COVID-19 and I share my condolences with their families and friends,” said McCoy in his Thursday morning release. “It also is another day that we have new positive cases in the triple digits.”

$750 million for health coverage

“If we are going to put an end to this pandemic, we need to make sure all New Yorkers have access to affordable, reliable health care coverage ...,” said Hochul in a statement, announcing the federal funds. “The additional $750 million in federal funding to support our Essential Plan will help us further boost coverage in New York and bring us closer to our goal of achieving health equity.”

New York’s Essential Plan is a state-administered health-insurance program that covers individuals and families who make too much to qualify for Medicaid, but for whom private insurance premiums are too costly.

Since the Essential Plan began in 2015, enrollment has increased three-fold — it currently has 925,000 enrollees, according to the governor’s office.

Collectively, New Yorkers are saving $1 billion in health care costs in 2021 by being enrolled in Essential Plan compared with the cost of Qualified Health Plan coverage. 

New York is one of only two states — Minnesota is the other — to take advantage of a provision of the Affordable Care Act that gave states the ability to create Basic Health Programs. The Essential Plan has been instrumental in cutting New York’s uninsured rate from 10 percent to 5 percent since 2013.

Job losses at nursing homes

On Wednesday, the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living, representing more than 14,000 nursing homes and assisted living communities across the country, released a report showing long-term facilities are suffering from the worst labor crisis and job loss than any other health-care sector.

Nursing homes alone have seen employment levels drop by 14 percent or 221,000 jobs since the beginning of the pandemic.

While hospitals, physicians’ offices, outpatient care centers and other health care facilities have reached or surpassed pre-pandemic staffing levels, nursing homes and assisted-living communities are still experiencing substantial job losses according to the latest October employment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The organization released a survey of long-term care providers earlier this year showing that the labor crisis is worsening with 86 percent of nursing homes and 77 percent of assisted-living providers saying their workforce situation has gotten worse in recent months.

The survey showed that 58 percent of nursing homes are limiting new admissions and 78 percent of nursing homes are concerned workforce challenges might force them to close.

“Profound impact” on churches

Also this week, the Hartford Institute for Religion Research released a study, including 2,074 survey responses from 38 Christian denominational groups from mid-June to the end of August 2021, looking at how the pandemic is affecting congregations.

“These findings from the summer clearly show that the pandemic has had a profound impact across the religious spectrum, and that some churches are faring better than others,” said Principal Investigator Scott Thumma in a statement, releasing the report. 

Research shows 80 percent of churches are now offering hybrid services with both in-person and remote options, while only 15 percent are solely worshipping in person. However, during the height of the pandemic when people around the country were experiencing severe isolation over half of the churches surveyed (54 percent) reported completely discontinuing fellowship events, rather than moving them online.

Over 30 percent of congregations saw the need for food assistance, counseling and spiritual demands grow over the course of the pandemic. Forty-one percent of congregations also saw their giving increase to help meet this growing demand.

The survey also found the majority of clergy (62 percent) encouraged parishioners to get vaccinated and 28 percent of congregations welcomed medical personnel to address their membership.

Newest numbers

As of Wednesday, 73.4 percent of all Albany County residents have received at least the first dose of the vaccine, and 67.2 percent have been fully vaccinated, McCopy reported in his Thursday morning release.

There are now 563 active cases in the county, up from 519 on Wednesday. The number of county residents under mandatory quarantine increased to 1,169 from 1,044.

There were three new hospitalizations since Wednesday, and there are now a total of 32 county residents hospitalized with the coronavirus — a net decrease of eight. Seven of those hospital patients are in intensive-care units, a decrease of two from Wednesday.